


Unacceptable

by jordieey



Series: Glee--Missing Scenes/Fix-its/ [6]
Category: Glee
Genre: Apologies, Gen, Idiots--part two, Mentions of non-con, Past Rape/Non-con, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-08 03:56:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12856230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jordieey/pseuds/jordieey
Summary: Sam and Artie apologize to Ryder about how they reacted in Lights Out. First part is called Idiots.





	Unacceptable

It took reading the book Kitty had given him, one of Mr. Schue’s (in)famous talks, and four counselling sessions with Ms. Pillsbury—two by himself, two with Sam—for Artie to realize some things:

1\. The world was messed up. Even moreso than he had originally thought.  
2\. What had happened to Ryder was not okay—certainly not something to celebrate.  
3\. The way he and Sam had acted was unacceptable.  
4\. He was a complete and utter dick.

The book Kitty had given him had been disturbing. A boy had been seduced slash taken advance of by a (female) teacher, and then had thought it was his fault. Once Artie had started to read the story with a bit more of an open mind, he finally realized just how utterly wrong the entire thing was. 

In a way, he kind of felt like he had dived right into Ryder’s head; had seen firsthand what he had gone through.

“Guilty” wasn’t quite the right word. Artie felt wrecked—from the inside out. He’d spent the last few days rolling around in a sort of daze, trying to figure out how he could possibly make up for his inexcusable behavior.

He’d tried to find a song that he could sing as a apology, but hadn’t been able to find one that even remotely related to the situation. Most of them were bout romantic relationships, and that wasn’t what Artie was going for. 

It looked like he would simply have to pluck up and apologize. Artie could do that. He owed it to Ryder. 

Sam had taken a little longer to come around. Even after three sessions with Ms. Pillsbury, he hadn’t appeared to see anything wrong with what he had said to Ryder. Until, just yesterday, she had approached him in the hall. She’d leaned forward and whispered something in the blond’s ear before she simply walked away, leaving a stricken Sam Evans in her wake. 

When Artie had asked him what was wrong Sam had said, “She asked me how I would feel if a woman had touched my brother the way Ryder had been touch.” And that, as the saying went, had seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Artie had seen the way Sam’s shoulders had slumped, the regret filling his eyes. 

And so it started. Artie and Sam regrouped at the former’s house after school, and they once more tried to find a suitable apology song. Same results.

They ended up going with plan B: Get Ryder’s number and ask him to meet them.

Kitty was only too happy to give them Ryder’s phone number. Artie kind of wondered how she had gotten it—how had she known about Sam’s siblings anyway?—but figured it would be safer not to question her. She reminded him a bit of Santana, Artie thought with no small amount of nerves. 

Artie would admit that he half-expected Ryder to avoid him and Sam, but thankfully, when glee club was dismissed on Wednesday afternoon, Ryder remained firmly in his seat. As did Sam and Artie.

Well, to be fair, Artie couldn’t exactly leave his seat, but—

Not important. 

It occurred to Artie, as the rest of the glee members filtered out, that he was actually nervous. He didn’t know Ryder all that well, and as far as Artie knew, there could be a high probability of Ryder simply telling them to fuck off.

Artie fidgeted, watching apprehensively as Ryder finally left his seat in the back of the room, and approached him and Sam.

“What’s up?” Ryder asked, sounding cautious. Rightfully so, Artie thought bitterly.

There was an awkward pause in which both older boys waited to for the other to start first. 

“Look, man—“ Sam started.

“I just wanted to say—“ Artie said at the same time. 

The two boys awkwardly glanced at each other, lapsing into a highly uncomfortable silence. Seeing that Sam had seemingly decided to give him the opening this time around, Artie once turned to the younger boy. Ryder kind of looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. Artie didn’t blame him.

“Look…Ryder,” Artie said carefully. “Sam and I have been doing a lot of thinking, and we’ve realized we acted completely out of line about the whole…”

“Groping thing,” Sam supplied, rather unhelpfully. Artie shot him a discrete glare.

“Oh,” Ryder muttered, shifting his feet with clear discomfort. “Uh, it’s nothing. You guys were completely right. It’s no big deal.” Ryder was staring rather intently at his shoes. Clearly, it was a big deal to him, no matter how much he denied it. 

“But that’s just it,” Artie replied, leaning forward earnestly in an attempt to get his point across, “we weren’t right. To be honest, we acted like complete dicks.”

“What happened to you was seriously messed up, man,” Sam piped up—much more helpfully this time.

Ryder stared at them for several seconds before glancing around the choir room almost frantically.

“Did someone put you up to this?” he asked, sounding a bit desperate. “Is this some kind of sick joke?” 

Artie’s heart plummeted to his stomach. “No. It’s no trick. I promise.” After a pause, he added, “You can search the entire room, and ask everyone we know, if you don’t believe us.” Out of the corner of his eye, Artie saw Sam nodding along with his words. 

Artie kind of hoped Kitty wouldn’t say anything, if Ryder did ask her questions. He didn’t want the younger boy to know how much nudging it had taken them to see the light, so to speak. 

Ryder stared at them once more, before casting a careful look around the room. When his gaze resettle don the two boys before him, the look in his eyes was painful to look at. He seemed to be conflicted—wavering somewhere between grateful and angry. Artie’s stomach twisted, and guilt hit him like a tidal wave. 

God, this was so messed up.

“Well…thanks, I guess,” Ryder said eventually. He seemed to pause he searched for his next words. “You know, you guys are actually pretty cool.”

“Thanks, man,” Artie replied while Sam murmured something along the same line.

Ryder cast on last, searching look around the room, nodded to him and Sam, before turning around and leaving. 

Artie hoped they could officially make it up to him someday.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope I did this justice.
> 
> I'm still open to taking requests, if anyone's interested. I still have one to fill yet, but if there's something you would like to read, I promise I will do my best. Whether it be a missing scene, a continuity error fix-it fic, or a writing prompt you want filled--ect.--I will try to write it. However, I would like to mention that I will be starting to write my own original novel soon--the second in a series. yay!--and that will be my main focus. If I ever have a delay in posting, that'll probably be why. 
> 
> But, again, feel free to make requests. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this fic.
> 
> Reviews, please?


End file.
